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TME BROWNS 


BY SOPHIE SWETT 





LIBRmOFC^RESS. 

Chap.. ight No. 

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 











THE LITTLEST ONE OF THE 

BROWNS 


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Frontispiece 


THE LITTLEST ONE OF 
THE BROWNS 


BY 

SOPHIE SWETT 

AUTHOR OF “the LOLLIPOP’s VACATION,” 
“ PENNYROYAL AND MINT,” ETC. 


Sllustrateti 



BOSTON 

DANA ESTES AND COMPANY 

1900 


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|i-n>r«ry of ConJ^;^ 

Two Cofifs BfCtlVEB I 

JUN 16 1901 

Coff’igM wiry 

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9Hm co^y 

•^0£,^ iXViSK)^ 


64476 

Copyrighty i8g8 
By S. E. Cassino 


Copyrighty igoo 

By Dana Estes and Company 


Colonial 

Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co. 
Boston, U. S. A. 


CONTENTS, 


CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Bee and Cousin Albert’s Wife ii 

II. Old Mrs. Pence and Her 

Basket 25 

III. The Ride with the Tin-peddler 41 

IV. Mrs. Peter Bent’s Puppy . .57 

V. Bob’s Plan 71 

VI. Over on the Back Road . . 86 










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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

“ Uncle Joshua took the box out ” 

Frontispiece 

“Bee was under the oak-tree” . 13 

“Any one would like peppermint 

CANDY ” 31 

“ She would fly and get the baby ” 37 

“ Bee seized the baby ” . . -45 

“ Mrs. Pence shouted angrily ” . 49 

Mrs. Peter Bent’s Puppy . . 65 

“ With one arm around Bevis ” . 67 

Bevis to the Rescue ! ... 75 

“She saw old Mrs. Pence” . . 81 

“ So MANY DOLLS TOGETHER YOU 

NEVER SAW ” 95 

“ Bevis frolicked like a puppy ” . 99 







THE LITTLEST ONE OF 
THE BROWNS. 


CHAPTER I. 

BEE AND COUSIN ALBERT’s WIFE. 

B ee was making an acorn tea- 
set, under the oak-tree by the 
gate, when she saw old Mrs. Jane- 
way coming along the lane. 

Now old Mrs. Jane way always 
asked a little girl her name, and, 
being deaf, made her repeat it. 


II 


12 


THE LITTLEST ONE 


When Bee was asked her name 
she always answered, “ I’m the lit- 
tlest one of the Browns.” 

Then, if Bob were there, she 
would blush and look at him to 
see if he were going to tell why 
she didn’t say “ Beatrice Brown.” 

Before the new minister and his 
wife came to tea she had to give 
Bob her whistling top to make him 
promise not to tell. (I think, my- 
self, that it was very mean of Bob 
to take it, but he always has said 
that he meant to give it back to 
Bee as soon as he found out what 
made it whistle ; but when he had 
found out why, it wasn’t a top any 
longer !) 





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“BEE WAS UNDER THE OAK-TREE. 



J- . * . 



OF THE BROWNS. 15 

If one lisps, “ Beatrice Brown ” 
is not an easy name to say. 

Old Mrs. Janeway was coming 
in. She would have hoarhound 
drops in her bag, but hoarhound 
drops are bitter as well as sweet. 
And Bob was there, and would be 
sure to say “ Beatwis ” right after 
one. 

Bee ran around to the other side 
of the tree, where the visitor could 
not see her, and called softly to 
Ann, the cook, who was coming 
from the orchard with a pan of 
apples. 

“ I’m going over to Aunt Sallie’s, 
Ann,” she said. 

Ann only nodded, absently ; Bee 


1 6 the littlest one 

was allowed to go over to Aunt 
Sallie’s at any time. 

She scampered across the road 
and across the field. She remem- 
bered, now, that she had begun to 
read a delightful story-book at Aunt 
Sallie’s, two or three days before. 

When she reached the house she 
opened the front door, which was 
never locked, and went through 
the hall to the library, which was 
also Uncle Joshua’s study. 

She opened the door softly. 
Uncle Joshua was almost always 
at his desk, and one must not dis- 
turb him. He had a gruff voice 
and fierce -looking whiskers, and 
seldom smiled at one ; but he never 


OF THE BROWNS. 1 7 

wanted to know one’s name, and 
he always kept a box full of sticks 
of candy in the lowest drawer of 
his desk. 

Whether he liked the candy him- 
self, I cannot say, but there it 
always was, and he was almost sure 
to offer a stick to Bee. 

He took the box out this morn- 
ing as soon as Bee opened the 
door. He seemed to be very busy, 
and he only made a gruff little 
noise in his throat, and didn’t look 
at her. 

When he didn’t look at her Bee 
had presence of mind enough to 
select a twisted stick, with a pink 
stripe, and that would be pepper- 


1 8 THE LITTLEST ONE 

mint. If she were looked at from 
under Uncle Joshua’s shaggy gray 
eyebrows, she grew confused, and 
might take one that was all pink, 
and that would be clove, and not 
so nice. 

It never happened to Bob to get 
a clove stick. He said that only a 
girl, and a silly one at that, was 
ever bashful. 

Bee perched herself on the broad 
shelf of the old secretary, in the 
corner, with the peppermint candy 
and “ Pippy’s Warning,” a beauti- 
ful story about a dog. She could 
have borrowed all the story-books 
in the old secretary, and carried 
them home, if she had wished to, 


OF THE BROWNS. 


19 


but there were so many of the 
Browns, and they were such lively 
boys and girls, that it was not easy 
to find a quiet corner in the house 
in which to read. 

Bee had reached the place in the 
story where the old -clothes -man 
muzzled poor Pippy so he could 
not bark, and thrust him into his 
bag, when the door opened sud- 
denly, and there stood Cousin 
Albert’s beautiful new wife from 
the city, of whom Bee was very 
much afraid. 

She wore a light blue silk wrap- 
per, and its wide loose sleeves were 
lined with white satin, and had 
tiny white tassels on the points. 


20 


THE LITTLEST ONE 


It was partly her clothes that 
made Bee afraid of her. No one 
in Pekoe wore clothes like that. 
And, all summer, when Bee came 
in from playing in the sand-bank, 
her oldest sister, Philena, had said, 
“ Oh, what if Cousin Albert’s wife 
should come over and see you look- 
ing like that ! ” 

Now, as soon as she saw Cousin 
Albert’s wife. Bee put the book 
over the little yellow spot on her 
apron — that meant peaches — and 
felt of her back hair to find out 
whether the bow had stayed on. 
(Alas! it hadn’t.) 

Cousin Albert’s wife said that 
her baby’s nurse, Viola, had gone 


OF THE BROWNS. 


21 


to bed with the toothache, and she 
wanted some one to take care of 
the baby while she went into the 
kitchen and saw that her real old 
lace was properly done up. She 
couldn’t trust it to any one. 

Uncle Joshua only made the 
little gruff noise in his throat, 
without looking up. He didn’t 
seem to think anything of her 
real old lace. 

“ Beatrice, can’t you take care of 
the baby.^” asked Cousin Albert’s 
wife. 

Now if Bee was afraid of Cousin 
Albert’s wife, she was more afraid 
of the baby ! They hadn’t any at 
home, and Bee was not much ac- 


22 


THE LITTLEST ONE 


quainted with them. This one 
was very new, and it screwed up 
its little pinkish face and cried if 
you looked at it. And Bob said 
that a person never could tell what 
a baby would do. 

To take care of one seemed 
such a great, awful thing to 
do ! 

“She’s asleep. You will only 
have to sit by the cradle and rock 
it a little if she wakes,” said Cousin 
Albert’s wife, encouragingly. 

“I’m — I’m afraid she will break,” 
stammered Bee. “ I’m always un- 
lucky with dolls. And my hair isn’t 
nice ; the bow is lost off, and there 
are burdock burrs in it ! ” 


OF THE BROWNS. 


23 


Bee’s face brightened as she 
said this, for she thought surely 
so elegant a person wouldn’t want 
an untidy little girl to come near 
her baby. 

“ Oh, no matter. I’ll lend you 
a comb. Come ! ” said Cousin 
Albert’s wife. 

Bee had never combed her hair 
in her life ; but was a person with 
any pride going to own that to 
Cousin Albert’s wife, who took 
her for a big girl } She laid 
down “ Pippy’s Warning.” Then 
she slipped down from the shelf 
and followed the blue train up- 
stairs. 

There was a crumb of comfort 


24 


THE LITTLEST ONE 


in the proud thought that she 
might live to tell Bob. 

Bob himself, who was twelve, 
would not dare to take care of a 
baby. 


CHAPTER II. 

OLD MRS. PENCE AND HER BASKET. 

B ee followed Cousin Albert’s 
wife into the chamber. There 
stood the baby’s cradle, with the 
baby in it. Its little pinkish face 
was not screwed up to cry, now, 
but looked sweet and calm under 
its tiny white cap. 

Bee sat down on a hassock be- 
side the cradle, and when the baby’s 
mother gave her a comb she took 
it just as if she always combed 
her own hair. She wished that she 


25 


26 


THE LITTLEST ONE 


had said nothing about the lost bow 
and the burdocks. It was pleasant 
to be thought a big girl. 

“ I don’t think I shall break her,” 
she said to Cousin Albert’s wife as 
she was leaving the room. 

“ Oh, you mustn’t touch her ! 
Only rock the cradle softly if she 
wakes,” said the baby’s mother. 

And off she went to take care of 
her real old lace, while Bee took 
care of the baby. 

Bee pulled the burdock burrs 
carefully out of her hair and threw 
them out of the window. Then 
she again braided the snarly curls 
into a tight little braid. She 
thought that braids were more 


OF THE BROWNS. 


27 


stylish than curls, and one should 
be stylish who was taking care of 
such a baby as that. Its cradle 
quilt was of white silk, the cradle 
itself had a flounce of white lace, 
and the pillow was lace-covered. 

It began to be very still and 
lonesome in the great chamber, 
after Bee had done her hair. Bob 
had said you never could tell what 
a baby would do, but this baby 
didn’t do anything for a long time. 

The littlest one of the Browns 
never sat still long, unless she had 
a book, but to-day she tried hard. 
There were chintz curtains at the 
windows, and she studied the little 
shepherdesses with flocks of sheep 


28 


THE LITTLEST ONE 


SO steadily that she remembers the 
pattern still. (I know this, for my 
story is as true as can be, and I am 
better acquainted with Bee than 
with any one else in the world.) 

The baby stirred, then puckered 
up her little red button of a mouth, 
and cried fretfully. Bee rocked the 
cradle gently, but the baby con- 
tinued its feeble little wail. Bee 
hoped that no one would hear. 
She didn’t want Bob to be told 
that she couldn’t take care of the 
baby. She sung, softly, “ Hush, 
my dear, lie still and slumber,” as 
old Ann, the cook, had sung to 
her when she had the mumps. 

But the baby didn’t seem to like 


OF THE BROWNS. 


29 


it; she “ made up a face ” and cried 
louder. Perhaps she was like Bob, 
Bee thought, and disliked to hear 
a person lisp. 

She suddenly remembered that 
she had the peppermint candy in 
her pocket, and she broke off a 
tiny bit and put it into the baby’s 
mouth. She did not know what 
babies ate, but surely any one 
would like peppermint candy ! 
The baby ceased to cry, and 
opened her eyes with a queer 
little look of surprise. It must 
be a surprise, thought Bee, when 
one knows for the first time how 
good candy is ! 

The baby heaved a long sigh of 


30 


THE LITTLEST ONE 


contentment, and slipped softly off 
to sleep. 

Bee felt very proud. She wished 
that she were not too bashful to 
tell Cousin Albert’s wife what to 
do when the baby cried. 

The baby slept very quietly 
now. It was nothing to take care 
of a baby, thought Bee, when one 
knew how. 

The room was very still and 
lonesome again. Bee began to 
think of her story-book, and to 
wonder whether poor Pippy ever 
got out of the old-clothes-man’s 
bag, and home to his dear little 
master. 

She concluded it would do no 



“ ANY ONK WOULD LIKE PEPLERMINT CANDY. 






OF THE BROWNS. 


33 


harm to slip softly down-stairs, 
and get the book and read it while 
the baby slept. She tiptoed all the 
way, and shut the door carefully, 
carefully. 

When she opened the library 
door again. Uncle Joshua looked 
up absently, made the gruff little 
noise in his throat, and took out 
the candy box. 

“ IVe had one,” said Bee, hon- 
estly. 

She hoped he would say “ Take 
another,” but he didn’t; he looked 
at her, and smiled a little, and put 
the box away. Bee felt disap- 
pointed, but still she wasn’t sorry 
she had said it, because, as she 


34 the littlest one 

afterward explained to Bob, if she 
hadn’t another stick of candy, 
neither had she any “mean feel- 
ing ” about her. Even candy 
didn’t pay for having a “ mean 
feeling. ” 

She thought she had returned 
“ Pippy’s Warning ” to its shelf in 
the secretary, but when she looked 
it wasn’t there. It took her sev- 
eral minutes to find out that, as 
she had hastily laid it down, it 
had fallen on the floor between 
the secretary and the wall. 

She ran back, in breathless 
haste, afraid that the baby had 
awakened. But no sound came 
from the room. 


OF THE BROWNS. 35 

When she had entered it and 
shut the door softly behind her, 
she saw that the pillow was tossed 
half-way out of the cradle, the silk 
quilt trailed upon the floor, and 
that there was no baby in the 
cradle ! 

Hot tears of shame rose to Bee’s 
eyes. Cousin Albert’s wife must 
have come in and found out that 
she had left the baby. She would 
think she could not be trusted ! 

Bee stood still, not having the 
courage to go in search of Cousin 
Albert’s wife and the baby, and 
suddenly she caught sight from 
the window of old Mrs. Pence 
hurrying along the road. 


36 


THE LITTLEST ONE 


Old Mrs. Pence was one of the 
“back folks,” as the people were 
called who lived on the edge of the 
town. Bob had tried to make Bee 
believe that she was a witch, and 
carried off children. He said — 
oh, a dreadful thing ! — that he 
had seen little legs sticking out 
of the great basket Mrs. Pence 
carried, — yes, several times. 

Sometimes, after Bob had told 
her such a story as that, he would 
come and tell her that he had 
been “joking,” so that it wouldn’t 
be telling a lie. But Bob had 
never said he was “joking” about 
this. He always firmly declared 
that he had seen the little legs 



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OF THE BROWNS. 39 

Sticking out of old Mrs. Pence’s 
basket ! 

Old Mrs. Pence did look like a 
story-book witch. Her face was 
brown and wrinkled, like a baked 
apple. She had a little hump on 
her back, and she was always 
talking to herself. But, of course, 
when a bright little Yankee girl is 
eight, she knows that there are no 
witches, except in story-books. 

Old Mrs. Pence had her basket 
on her arm now, and held closely 
against her breast was a baby! 

The baby was wrapped in her 
shawl, and had a veil over its 
face, but Bee saw a little lace cap 
and lovely yellow hair, such as she 


THE LITTLEST ONE 


40 

had seen but a few minutes before 
in the lace-flounced cradle ! 

Old Mrs. Pence had come in at 
the front door, stolen softly up- 
stairs, and carried off the baby, 
reasoned Bee, and started wildly 
after her. As she ran down the 
stairs, she heard Cousin Albert’s 
wife’s voice from an inner room : 
“Little Beatrice is taking care of 
the baby.” But she could not give 
an alarm. She would fly and get 
the baby away from old Mrs. 
Pence, and no one need know 
what had happened! 


CHAPTER III. 

THE RIDE WITH THE TIN - PEDDLER. 

E IGHT-YEAR-OLD legs can 
run fast, but eight -year-old 
strength gives out before long. It 
didn’t seem likely that Bee would 
catch up with old Mrs. Pence, who 
was carrying off the baby. 

She still kept screaming, and 
once old Mrs. Pence turned around 
as if she heard, and Bee could see 
the yellow of the baby’s hair, and 
the flutter of the lace frill of its 
cap. 

41 


42 


THE LITTLEST ONE 


Oh, what would the baby’s mother 
say ? Dick Presho, the tin-peddler, 
came along, and stopped his rat- 
tling cart to look down at her in 
wonder. He asked her if she were 
going much farther, and if she 
didn’t want to ride “ a piece ” with 
him ; and Bee gladly perched her- 
self up on the back of the wagon 
with the blue tubs. She said she 
was going out to the back road. 
She wanted to get the baby with- 
out telling anybody what had hap- 
pened. While she ran she had 
planned to offer old Mrs. Pence 
the two dollars and sixty-nine cents 
in her bank, besides her bright new 
half-dollar, and her guinea hen. 


OF THE BROWNS, 


43 


She thought Bob would give her 
his pair of bantam chickens, per- 
haps even one of his peacocks. 
Bob would mimic you and say that 
girls were silly, but when you were 
really in trouble he would be pretty 
sure to help you out. 

If old Mrs. Pence wouldn’t give 
up the baby for anything that she 
could offer her, why, then — Bee 
shut her eyes and thought so hard 
that her head ached; why, then, 
she must go back and tell the 
baby’s mother! 

A great sob burst forth with 
this thought, but the rattling tins 
smothered the sound. They were 
in a woods road now, and suddenly 


44 


THE LITTLEST ONE 


Bee saw a sight that made her 
heart dance. 

Old Mrs. Pence had crawled 
through a rail fence to pick some 
late blackberries that hung tempt- 
ingly upon the bushes, and had set 
down her great basket, with the 
baby upon the top of it, beside 
the road! 

Bee slipped down from the 
wagon and seized the baby 
when old Mrs. Pence’s back was 
turned. 

It was an up-hill road, and the 
tin-peddler was driving slowly. 

In one of the great blue tubs 
Bee laid the baby, and scrambled 
up beside it. She trembled, and 



BEE SEIZED THE BABY 



OF THE BROWNS. 47 

her heart beat like a trip-hammer, 
but the baby was safe ! 

If Dick Presho would only drive 
a little faster, for now old Mrs. 
Pence was crawling back through 
the fence ! After the wagon hur- 
ried old Mrs. Pence, shouting 
angrily: 

“ It ain’t mine ! And it’s worth 
ten dollars ! ” was all that Bee could 
hear of what she said. 

Dick Presho didn’t see or hear 
her at all; his back was turned 
and the rattling tins were hung 
very near his ears. 

The baby wasn’t hers ! She 
knew that well enough, thought 
Bee. But what could she mean 


48 


THE LITTLEST ONE 


by saying that it was worth 
ten dollars ? Cousin Albert’s 
wife’s baby worth only ten dol- 
lars ! 

Oh, if Dick Presho would only 
start up his horse ! 

When the hill-top was gained, 
he did. Old Mrs. Pence was left, 
making wild gestures, in the road, 
far behind ! 

But after her first feeling of re- 
lief Bee began to realise that she 
was being rapidly carried along to 
the back road and old Mrs. Pence’s 
house. 

She thought it would be a good 
plan to take the baby in her arms, 
and slip off the wagon, and hide in 



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OF THE BROWNS. 51 

the woods before old Mrs. Pence 
came along. 

But while she was thinking about 
it the tin-peddler suddenly stopped 
his horse, and called to Bee, look- 
ing back at her over the tops of 
the bristling brooms and nodding 
feather dusters. 

“ Look here, little girl, I wouldn’t 
go out to the back road all alone, 
if I was you,” he said. “We’re 
coming to the turn of the road, 
and you can, if you want to, but 
after I stop at Bailey’s Mill I’m 
going back by way of the turnpike 
road, and I can take you right 
home.” 

“ Oh, if you will take me right 


52 


THE LITTLEST ONE 


back to Uncle Joshua’s!” cried 
Bee, joyfully, “ and please drive 
fast I ” 

The tin-peddler looked in some 
surprise at the little girl, who such 
a short time before had wanted 
to go to the back road ; but he 
thought, perhaps, the loneliness of 
the way had scared her. And, for 
himself, he preferred to take her 
home rather than to leave her at 
the back road, where many rough 
people lived. 

“ Where did you want to go to, 
on the back road ? ” he asked her. 

“ To — to old Mrs. Pence’s,” fal- 
tered Bee. And to her great relief 
he didn’t ask her what she wanted 


OF THE BROWNS. 


53 


to go to old Mrs. Pence’s for — or, 
if he did, she could not hear him, 
for the horse started again, and the 
wagon began to rattle. 

It was a wonder that the rattling 
noise didn’t wake the baby. She 
was still wrapped from head to foot 
in old Mrs. Pence’s shawl, and, 
when Bee peeped over the side of 
the tub, she was lying as still as 
a mouse and seemed to be fast 
asleep. 

She lay so still that Bee began 
to fear that something was the 
matter with her. She remembered 
that she had felt very queer and 
stiff in her arms, when she had 
carried her, although she had been 


54 LITTLE ST ONE 

too much excited at the time to 
think much about it. Old Mrs. 
Janeway had once told about her 
granddaughter’s baby who had been 
given too much sleepy medicine 
by its nurse. It was a long time 
before it could be awakened and it 
was very ill afterward. 

Bee was afraid that old Mrs. 
Pence had given sleepy medicine 
to this baby. She leaned over the 
tub to lift the baby out, but just 
then the wagon stopped at Bailey’s 
Mills and Mrs. Bailey came out to 
buy some things of the peddler. 

Bee pulled down a bunch of 
waving feather dusters until they 
hung over the blue tub like a 


OF THE BROWNS. 


55 


canopy, and she hoped — oh, how 
she hoped ! — that Mrs. Bailey 
would only want tinware and would 
not come near the back of the 
wagon. She snuggled close to the 
blue tub and was as quiet as the 
baby while Mrs. Bailey bought a 
nutmeg grater and an egg beater 
and a quart dipper. 

Then Mrs. Bailey said that what 
she wanted most of anything was a 
large blue tub ! 

And Bee’s heart was in her 
mouth. 

When the tin-peddler and Mrs. 
Bailey came around to the back of 
the wagon she lifted the baby out 
of the tub, but, in her hurry and 


56 


THE LITTLEST ONE 


confusion, she unfastened old Mrs. 
Pence’s shawl, and when that came 
off it pulled off the white cap and 
the veil. It was a great, doll baby 
that opened its blue eyes at Bee 
and said “ Mama,” in a squeaking 
little voice! 


CHAPTER IV. 

MRS. PETER bent’s PUPPY. 

B ee almost dropped the doll 
baby in her great surprise. 
The beating of her heart sounded 
pit-a-pit in her ears, and there was 
a choking lump in her throat. 

Could Bob be right, and was old 
Mrs. Pence a real story-book witch, 
after all ? Had she tapped the 
baby three times with her wand 
and turned it into this doll.'^ 

Now, of course, a sensible little 
57 


58 


THE LITTLEST ONE 


girl was not going to think that 
for long, however puzzled she 
might be. Yet things were hap- 
pening as they do in a queer dream 
or in a story-book. 

“ Why, here is the little Brown 
girl,” said Mrs. Bailey, kindly. 
“ And what a beautiful doll she 
has ! ” 

Bee held the doll up before her 
face to hide the tears that were 
rolling down. Where, oh, where 
was Cousin Albert’s wife’s baby? 
Your heart could not be thrilled 
even by holding such a beautiful 
doll as this in your arms while it 
had such a dreadful ache about the 
baby! 


OF THE BROWNS. 


59 


“ A talking doll, too ! ” said Mrs. 
Bailey. For the doll squeaked, 
“ Mama ! mama ! ” as Bee hugged 
it closely. “ I saw one just like it 
that Oily Pence was dressing. She 
dresses dolls for that large store at 
Gobang. Oily is lame, so her 
mother goes after them for her 
and carries them home. I see old 
Mrs. Pence almost every week, 
with a basket of small dolls, and 
one of those large ones in her 
arms.” 

The tin-peddler said he was glad 
that Oily had some work to do, for 
he supposed that she and her 
mother were very poor. And as 
Mrs. Bailey went into the house. 


6o 


THE LITTLEST ONE 


after buying all she wanted, he said 
to Bee: 

“ So you wanted to go to the 
back road to get Oily Pence to 
dress your doll, did you ? I didn’t 
notice that you had a doll when I 
saw you running along the road.” 

Bee stammered something in 
reply. She really couldn’t speak, 
she was thinking so hard. 

It was this doll that old Mrs. 
Pence carried in her arms, all the 
time ; this doll and not Cousin 
Albert’s wife’s baby! 

She had not gone into the house 
and stolen the baby, as Bee had 
thought I 

She carried dolls home in her 


OF THE BROWNS. 


6i 


basket for her daughter to dress ! 
They were dolls’ legs that Bob had 
seen sticking out of the basket ! 
And Bob must have known that 
they were ! 

Bob knew, too, that there were 
no witches! Bee liked a good 
witch in a story; she had owned 
that she did to Bob. She had 
talked a good deal about them. 
And Bob had taken advantage of 
this taste of hers for witches to 
scare her about old Mrs. Pence! 
Why had she not stopped to think 
that some one in the house might 
have taken away the baby — Aunt 
Sallie, or Viola, the nurse ! 

The doll’s lace cap was just like 


62 


THE LITTLEST ONE 


the baby’s, and so was the yellow 
hair that she had seen under the 
veil ; but still she knew she should 
not have been so hasty if it had 
not been for that story of Bob’s 
that old Mrs. Pence carried away 
children ! 

“ I guess you’d better get some 
of your folks to take you out to 
the back road,” Dick Presho said, 
kindly, as he prepared to drive on. 
“You’re kind of small to be travel- 
ling ’round with such a big baby. 
I suppose that a doll like that is 
worth a good deal of money.” 

As the tin-peddler said this, poor 
Bee’s eyes grew wide with a new 
fright. She had carried off a 


OF THE BROWNS. 


63 


valuable doll, and old Mrs. Pence 
thought, of course, that she meant 
to steal it! She must return it 
just as soon as possible. She 
would not be allowed to go out to 
the back road alone, but perhaps 
Bob would go with her. If she 
had to tell how foolish she had 
been, it would be easier to tell Bob 
than any one else. 

There was this good thing about 
Bob ; although he would mimic 
you and laugh at you, yet when 
you were in trouble he would seem 
to feel brotherly and manly, all at 
once, and try to help you out. 

Every time that the sound of 
wheels made her fear that old Mrs. 


64 


THE LITTLEST ONE 


Pence had sent an officer to arrest 
her, Bee longed for Bob. And 
when, as the tin-peddler stopped at 
Mrs. Peter Bent’s, to sell his wares. 
Bob came riding along on his new 
bicycle, her heart thrilled and tears 
of joy came into her eyes. 

She felt like hugging Bob — 
only Bob didn’t like such atten- 
tions — and there was dear old 
Bevis, their big dog, with him. 

Old Bevis was frisking like a 
young dog after Bob’s new bicycle. 
Bee hoped that he wasn’t so excited 
as to take any notice of Mrs. Peter 
Bent’s great Newfoundland puppy, 
that had come out, barking madly. 

She had slipped down from the 


OF THE BROWNS. 


65 


wagon, after tucking the doll care- 
fully behind the rag-bags that had 
taken the place of the blue tub. 



MRS. PETER bent’s PUPPY. 


“ What are you riding round on 
the tin-wagon for? Mama won’t 
like it!” exclaimed Bob. “We 
thought you were at Aunt Sallie’s.” 


66 


THE LITTLEST ONE 


Bee poured out the whole story, 
standing with one arm around her 
old dog’s neck, partly to keep him 
away from Mrs. Peter Bent’s 
puppy, partly because it made 
her feel braver. 

“The idea of letting you take 
care of a baby!” said Bob. (But 
that was the only cruel thing he 
said.) “ I should think you might 
have known what I meant when I 
said I saw little legs sticking out 
of old Mrs. Pence’s basket I I 
knew that her daughter dressed 
dolls for the Gobang toy-store. 
Yes, I’ll go with you and carry 
the doll back. Where is it ? ” 

Mrs. Peter Bent’s puppy was 





“WITH ONE ARM AROUND BEVIS. 




9 

'i 


i 

i 



» 


V 






OF THE BROWNS. 69 

growling and barking, and he 
was shaking and tearing some- 
thing. 

The tin-peddler shouted at him, 
“ Here, get away from my bags ! 
that dog is always after my rag- 
bags.” 

But it was not a rag-bag that 
Mrs. Peter Bent’s puppy had seized 
upon this time ! 

He dashed along the road with 
something yellow and waving in 
his mouth. A doll’s hair ! 

“ He has got the doll and torn 
her hair off ! ” cried Bob, who was 
nearest to him. “ Whoa, there ! ” 
But the tin-peddler’s horse, an- 
noyed by flies, was restlessly 


70 the littlest one 

backing. The wagon-wheel went 
directly over the poor doll, with 
her curly yellow wig gone, that the 
puppy had left in the road. 


CHAPTER V. 
bob’s plan. 

B ob took the doll up from the 
road after Mrs. Peter Bent’s 
puppy had torn off its pretty yellow 
hair and the wheel of the heavy tin- 
wagon had run over it. 

Its head was quite bare, its 
cheeks very pale, — the paint being 
all licked off them, — and one of its 
legs came off in Bob’s hand. 

“ Mam — mam,” it said, in a 
feeble little squeak, when Bob 
pressed it. 


71 


72 


THE LITTLEST ONE 


“ The wheel went over the rest 
of the ‘ mama,’ you see,” said Bob. 

“ Oh, what shall I do now "I ” 
sobbed Bee. 

And even Bob didn’t call her 
a cry-baby. To have carried off a 
doll that was worth so much, and 
have it ruined like that, was, as 
Bob said, “ pretty bad business.” 

Mrs. Peter Bent said that puppy 
was so mischievous that she didn’t 
know what she should do with him. 
But she shouldn’t think Bee’s 
mother would let her play with 
such a doll, every day, and she 
didn’t think it looked pretty for a 
little girl to ride around on a tin- 
wagon, anyway. 


OF THE BROWNS, 


73 


Bob wrapped the remnants of 
the doll in old Mrs. Pence’s 

shawl, which they found beside 

the road where the dog had 
tossed it 

And then, although he had 
started for Red Hill to see 
whether the chestnuts were ripe, 
he turned and walked home with 
Bee, wheeling his bicycle. 

Old Bevis chased the puppy, 

and although Bob whistled and 
whistled he wouldn’t give up the 
chase until he had made the puppy 
drop the doll’s yellow wig. And 
Bevis brought it back in his 

mouth. 

Bob put the wig into his pocket. 


74 


THE LITTLEST ONE 


He said you never could tell when 
a thing would be useful. 

He said he would take care of 
all that was left of the doll if Bee 
didn’t mind ; he should like to 
examine and find out what it was 
that had made it say “mama” 
before it was broken. 

Bee said she never wished to see 
the poor broken doll again; she 
couldn’t bear to. 

Bob was very comforting as they 
walked home. He said that of 
course old Mrs. Pence must be 
paid for the doll just as soon as 
they could get the money. Ten 
dollars was a good deal, but they 
must manage to raise it. 



BEVIS TO THE RESCUE ! 






OF THE BROWNS. 


77 


He said they, taking a share of 
the trouble ; which showed that he 
knew how to be a brother. 

He said he would get the 
money out of his ten-cent bank; 
he thought there ought to be 
enough there to make five dol- 
lars, with what Bee had in her 
bank. 

But the worst of those banks 
was that when you smashed them 
there never was as much in them 
as you expected. 

Then he would go and tell Mrs. 
Gerry that she could have his pea- 
cocks; she had offered him five 
dollars for them. And then they 
would go straight out to the back 


78 


THE LITTLEST ONE 


road and pay old Mrs. Pence for 
the doll. 

When they reached home, Aunt 
Sallie, in her carriage, had just 
stopped at the door. 

“ There’s little Bee ! ” she cried. 
“ I came to see why she ran away. 
Was it because you didn’t like to 
take care of the baby. Bee } ” 

“ I didn’t run away, or at least I 
didn’t mean to run away,” answered 
Bee. 

And then she inquired anxiously 
after the baby’s health; which all 
the other Browns, little and big, 
thought was so grown-up and 
polite of Bee that they looked at 
each other in surprise. 


OF THE BROWNS. 79 

Aunt Sallie said that Viola’s 
toothache had got well, so that 
she had gone in and taken the 
baby. She was sorry, she added, 
that little Bee had run away before 
the caraway cookies were out of 
the oven. She knew how much 
Bee liked caraway cookies. 

Aunt Sallie went in, then, to 
see old Mrs. Janeway, and no one 
thought to ask Bee where she 
had been. 

Bee was afraid that they would 
never trust her again at Aunt 
Sallie’s, and yet she could not 
bear to tell why she had run 
away ; they would think her 
such a very silly person for sup- 


8o 


THE LITTLEST ONE 


posing that the baby had been 
stolen. 

“ Never mind ! ” Bob said, when 
she told him this trouble. “ They’ll 
find out that you’re not the run- 
ning-away kind. You’re not that, 
you know. And any one would 
have been frightened to come in 
and find a baby gone. So don’t 
you mind ! ” 

A compliment from Bob was so 
unusual that it quite cheered one. 

But Bee could not eat the nice 
warm dinner that had been saved 
for her, not even though Ann put 
an extra portion of sweet sauce on 
the apple dumplings and sent in 
a slice of frosted plum-cake, a 





SHE SAW OLD MRS. PENCE. 








OF THE BROWNS. 


83 


pleasant little way that Ann had 
when she saw red rims around a 
person’s eyes. 

Bob was smashing the banks, on 
the flat stone under the dining- 
room window, — perhaps that was 
one reason why she could not eat ; 
and he called to her that there was 
not four dollars in all ! 

They had kept those banks a 
long time ; they had felt a pride in 
keeping them since they had been 
allowed to do just as they pleased 
with them. But there never was 
much in Bob’s banks. 

Bob said ten-cent pieces didn’t 
count up, anyway, except when you 
were spending them. 


84 the littlest one 

“ Well, anyway, there’ll be almost 
nine dollars with the five for the 
peacocks; and I’ll sell my ban- 
tams to Joe Rugg for a dollar 
and a quarter.” Bob said this, 
looking in at the dining-room 
window. 

He said, too, that he didn’t think 
that old Mrs. Pence would come 
after Bee with an officer, because 
she was too nearly blind to have 
seen who she was. 

And when he had gone to sell 
the peacocks and the bantams. 
Bee felt so much better that 
she ate the frosting off the plum- 
cake. 

But she looked up, at the last 


OF THE BROWNS. 


85 


mouthful, and then rose from her 
chair, for she saw old Mrs. Pence 
coming, just as fast as she could, 
along the garden path. 


CHAPTER VI. 

OVER ON THE BACK ROAD. 

O LD Mrs. Pence rang the door- 
bell as if somebody should 

hear! 

Bee’s mother had gone to drive 
with Aunt Sallie and old Mrs. Jane- 
way. All the young Browns were 
out, and Phoebe, the maid who 
answered the bell, was up-stairs 
changing her dress. Bee stood 
still and waited. Oh, if Bob would 
only come with the ten dollars to 
pay for the doll 1 


86 


OF THE BE OWNS. 


87 


Bob came, just as old Mrs. 
Pence rang the bell again, but his 
face was gloomy. Mrs. Gerry 
wouldn’t buy the peacocks, he 
said, because her invalid sister 
didn’t like to hear them squawk; 
and Joe Rugg wouldn’t buy the 
bantams because his Plymouth 
Rock rooster would peck them. 

Old Mrs. Pence rang the bell 
again. 

Bee told Bob who it was at the 
door, and he went there directly. 
Bee, I am glad to say, was not far 
behind. Old Mrs. Pence was very 
much excited as she told of the 
loss of the beautiful doll-baby that 
her daughter was to have dressed 


88 


THE LITTLEST ONE 


for a little invalid girl in Gobang. 
The tin-peddler had told her that a 
little Brown girl had stolen it, — 
the littlest one of the Browns. 

It was Bee who told old Mrs. 
Pence the whole story, and that 
the doll looked exactly like a baby 
in her arms. And old Mrs. Pence, 
although she was angry, couldn’t 
help laughing a little. She said 
she didn’t want to make any 
trouble. Bee could just give her 
the doll and she would go home. 

Bob explained that there had 
been an accident and they couldn’t 
give her the doll. Without wait- 
ing for him to finish, old Mrs. 
Pence grew very angry, and said 


OF THE BROWNS, 


89 


the little invalid would cry her 
eyes out for the doll, and she would 
have to pay the ten dollars that it 
cost. 

Bob drew himself up in a very 
manly way — it was surprising to 
see how tall Bob could look — and 
said they would carry her the ten 
dollars the next day. 

When old Mrs. Pence had gone, 
Bee and Bob looked at each other, 
and Bob’s forehead was so wrinkled 
that he looked like Grandpa Brown, 
who was eighty. “ There’s just one 
way to get out of it ourselves,” said 
Bob. “ Just one way! ” 

Bob sat astride the stair railing, 
and Bee braced herself against 


THE LITTLE ST ONE 


90 

the front door. She knew it was 
something dreadful that Bob had 
thought of by the way he looked. 

“We can sell Bevis to Doctor 
Lawton for ten dollars ! ” said Bob. 
Sell Bevis ! It was almost as bad, 
thought Bee, as if he had said sell 
any one of the Browns. 

“ I’ve had him longer than you 
have,” said Bob, huskily. That 
was true only because Bob was 
older. Bee’s first steps had been 
taken with her baby fist clinched 
in Bevis’s shaggy coat. But Bob 
loved him. Bee knew that Bob loved 
him almost as well as she did. 

“ I’d rather tell papa ! ” Bee said, 
firmly. 


OF THE BROWNS. 91 

“ He’s having trouble enough, 
just now, with the strike at the 
mills, without your troubling him,” 
said Bob, “and he’ll never trust us 
again.” 

Bob went out of the front door 
with that, but he turned back to 
speak a little more cheerfully. 
“We have until to-morrow to get 
the money, anyway. If any of the 
fellows come for me don’t you tell 
them where I am ! ” 

That meant that he would be in 
his workshop, over the carriage 
house, where he was always tak- 
ing something to pieces and put- 
ting it together again. Bob liked 
to do that, when things went wrong 


THE LITTLEST ONE 


92 

with him. Bee was afraid he 
would forget all about the ten 
dollars. 

Bob stayed in his workshop all 
the afternoon and evening, and 
wouldn’t let Bee in when she 
knocked at the door. He didn’t 
come in to his supper, and no one 
knew when he went to bed. When 
Bee carried some muffins and 
cream cakes to the door he only 
said, very crossly, “ Go away.” Bob 
liked muffins and cream cakes, too. 

He slept late the next morning. 
Bee herself took Bevis down to 
Doctor Lawton. 

Long ago her father had said 
they would better let Doctor Law- 


OF THE BROWNS. 


93 


ton have Bevis. The dog was old 
and there were so many noisy 
young Browns. 

Doctor Lawton promptly gave 
Bee a ten-dollar bill, and told his 
man to shut Bevis up in the stable. 
He was going to send him to his 
little grandson, in another town. 

When Bee got home with the 
money. Bob praised her, though in 
a rather gruff voice. 

He told Bee she was more of a 
girl than he thought she was. 

They set out at once for the 
back road. Bob had something 
done up in old Mrs. Pence’s 
shawl, which they had forgotten 
to give her. He said it was some- 


94 


THE LITTLEST ONE 


thing for old Mrs. Pence. Bee 
thought but little about it; her 
mother often sent something to 
the back folks. Besides, Bevis’s 
cries rang in her ears all the way. 

“ Now you let me talk to old 
Mrs. Pence,” said Bob at the door, 
when they reached the house and 
found both old Mrs. Pence and her 
daughter dressing dolls. 

So many dolls together you 
never saw ! Little and big, black 
and white, babies and ladies, and 
boys and men ! They hung on 
lines across the room, they sat 
on the tables and chairs, they 
were piled in heaps on the floor. 

But the great doll-baby that 



so MANY DOLLS TOGETHER YOU NEVER SAW. 








OF THE BROWNS. 


97 


Bob, after a moment, drew out of 
the folds of old Mrs. Pence’s shawl 
was the biggest and most beautiful 
of all ! 

There she was, with the pretty 
yellow hair under her lace cap, 
with her cheeks as red as ever, 
and her legs as plump ! And 
when Bob pressed her, the doll- 
baby said, “ Mama ! Mama ! ” 

It seemed to Bee, at first, that 
Bob was like the magician at the 
fair who took doves out of his hat 
when there were no doves there ! 

“ She met with an accident, but 
I mended her,” said Bob, modestly. 
“ If you think she’ll do — ” 

“ Why, I don’t see but that she 


98 THE LITTLEST ONE 

seems just as good as new!” said 
the lame daughter, taking her and 
looking her over, “and the little 
girl who owns her would rather 
have her than any new one I ” 

Old Mrs. Pence said she hoped 
she hadn’t been hasty in her 
speech the day before, and the 
lame daughter made Bee a present 
of a delightful little wooden doll, 
a Dinah, with a red turban. 

They passed Aunt Sallie’s, on 
the way home. Cousin Albert’s 
wife was in the window, with her 
blue silk wrapper on, and she had 
the baby in her arms. She took 
the baby’s hand and made it throw 
a kiss to Bee. 





C.#Cl 


99 





OF THE BROWNS. 


lOI 


Bee thought she would go over 
and finish “ Pippy’s Warning,” in a 
day or two. She wouldn’t mind in 
the least now if they should ask 
her to take care of the baby ! But 
first she and Bob would go and get 
Bevis ! 

Doctor Lawton smiled when Bee 
thrust the ten-dollar bill into his 
hand. He said they could have 
Bevis, — he didn’t think Bevis 
would stay away from them, any- 
way. Bevis made a great uproar 
on the way home. He frolicked 
like a puppy and tumbled over 
them and rolled in the road at 
their feet and then rose and 
barked for joy. 


102 


THE LITTLEST ONE. 


When they got behind their own 
hedge Bee stopped and hugged Bob 
for a second. 

Bob bore it pretty well. But he 
said, a little gruffly, that he hoped 
people wouldn’t make any more 
fun of his taking things to pieces 
and putting them together again. 
He would frankly tell her now that 
he hadn’t expected that he could 
mend that doll, — only a fellow that 
had had practice could have made 
its wig stick on ! 

THE END. 














